University of Alabama trustees this afternoon approved final documents for land swaps with the city of Birmingham, property needed by the city for a baseball park on Southside and UAB for further expansion.

The board of trustees held a executive committee meeting this afternoon by telephone conference where they authorized the agreement.

Officials call the vote a significant step toward erecting the stadium, returning the Birmingham Barons to the city and creating a new district in the area near Rail Road Park.

Both city officials and university leaders have stressed the importance of the agreement to their institutions.

"This is a transaction that we've been working with the city on for a substantial period of time," UAB President Carol Garrison told board members. "These are important parcels to our future growth and development."

"It really, in baseball terms, knocked it out of the park," Chuck Faush, Mayor William Bell's chief of staff said in an interview after the meeting. "There were a zillion moving pieces to even get to this point, and the meeting really describes the kind of relationship that Dr. Garrison and Mayor Bell have been able to form and clearly says that the city and UAB understand how important it is to work together."

One parcel of the eight is still in contention, UAB officials said. The city-owned land referred to as the DHR property does not yet have clear title and city attorneys are working to resolve the issue, said Richard Margison, UAB vice president of financial affairs.

Margison said he did not know the probability of a successful title clearance but said the city has about three months under the agreement to resolve the issue. Otherwise, the city would return the cash value of the property that UAB paid for it. The school paid some cash to make up the value difference in the property swaps.

In addition to the land, university officials also discussed their working relationship with the city on the project, including how UAB would fit into the ballpark's footprint. Garrison said the stadium's design is aesthetically acceptable to UAB and the back of the facility won't face the campus property.